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IE DRAWING OF THE SWORD 

A PAGEANT FOR 
THE PRESENT HOUR 




THE 
DRAWING OF THE SWORD 

A PAGEANT 
FOR THE PRESENT HOUR 

BY 
THOMAS WOOD STEVENS 




THE STAGE GUILD 

RAILWAY EXCHANGE 

CHICAGO 



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COPYRIGHT 191 7 
BY THOMAS WOOD STEVENS 

Notice: The acting rights to this work are 
held by the Stage Guild. No performance 
may take place without written permission. 
This permission will be given without pay- 
ment of royalty upon application, provided 
that the work is to be given in full and that 
no admission fee is to be charged. In case an 
admission fee is to be charged, for any pur- 
pose, the applicant should state the circum- 
stances, under which the production is to be 
made, and the terms will be communicated 
by the Stage Guild, Railway Exchange 
Building, Chicago. 




©C1.D 47304 

^lii (0 19/7 
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NOTE 

THIS work (which is perhaps technically within the class- 
ification of a masque rather than a pageant), was prepared 
for the celebration, at Carnegie Institute of Technology, of 
the day of Registration, June fifth, 1917. It represents an 
eflFort to dramatize broadly the purposes of the Allied Nations, 
and to provide a practicable and dignified medium for the 
expression of community feeling about the war. It is in- 
tended primarily for performance, and has already repeatedly 
met this test. It is now published for the convenience of those 
engaged in further productions, and as a suggestion to workers 
in the field of pageantry. 

As originally produced by the Department of Dramatic 
Arts of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, under the 
direction of Mr. B. Iden Payne, the performance was given 
in the open air with about one hundred and fifty participants. 
The numbers in the groups may easily be augmented. The 
setting is simple and formal, and is not changed during the 
action. The costuming is symbolic and decorative, no effort 
being made to hold it within any one period. The vital 
effects are those of the speaking voice, and care should be 
taken by producers in the selection of voices and the reading 
of the words. 

The cast of characters of the original production, sub- 
sequently repeated in the Soldiers Memorial for the Pitts- 
burgh Military Training Association and at Chautauqua for 
the Committee on Patriotism Through Education of the 
National Security League and the Chautauqua Institution, 
was as follows: 

DRAMATIS PERSONAE 

The Herald- - - - . - - - Carl B. Reid 

Truth -------- Lucy Barton 

Liberty --_-_-_ Inez Krebs 

Justice ------- James S. Church 



Servia - -- - - -C. Fredrick Steen 

Belgium ->_-_-- Ena Lewis 

England ----- Richard Mansfield II. 

France -------- Eula N. Guy 

Imperial Russia - - - - Theodore A. Viehman 

Canada Francis Hogan 

India ------- Alexander Buchanan 

Australia ------ John Mulvey 

Japan ------ Frederic McConnell 

Armenia ----- Dorothy Rubenstein 

Italy ------- Norwood Engle 

Poland -------- Hazel Beck 

Portugal ------ William Mulligan 

Roumania George Trabert 

The New Russia Ellen Crowe 

America ------- Veolante Bollinger 

Production made under the direction of B. Iden Payne. 
Costuming under the direction of Katherine Jones. Music 
under the direction of J. Vick O'Brien. Stage Managers, 
Arleigh B. Williamson and William F. Viehman. 



THE DRAWING OF THE SWORD 



HE SETTING is a formal court, dominated by three high 
thrones. The thrones are upon an elevation, from which 
steps descend to the lower stage. Trumpets are heard. Enter 
the Herald. 



T 



TH E H E R ALD 



Hear ye, Americans, and mount with me 
On the pale wings of thought to that high court 
Where, overlooking all the lands and wars, 
Three mighty spirits brood above the world. 
These three: Justice and Liberty and Truth. 
Here then be reared their thrones, and soaring still, 
Give us your leave, in high imagining, 
To speak their purposes and judge the cause 
Of those true nations, callirig to your hearts 
From stricken fields or glorious battles — all 
Who hold the right above the might of arms— 
Our friends— our Allies— in the fields of war. 

[A March is heard. The Herald moves aside, and 
Truth, Justice and Liberty enter, with their trains. 
Truth taking the central throne. Justice the right. 
Liberty the left. ] 

TRUTH 

\A Goddess figure, majestically robed in white and 
azure. ] 

Hail, Justice, throned above the thoughts of men. 

JUSTICE 

[A powerful male figure, commanding, in Roman 
arms of brass and scarlet. ] 

Hail, Spirit of Truth, eternal memory. 

TRUTH 

Hail, Liberty, the light beyond men's dreams. 

[7] 



^ LIBERTY 

[^ Goddess robed in white, a star above her brow. ] 
Hail, Truth, immortally divining. 

TRUTH 

Spirits above the world, I see far off 
In the dark past, intrigues of force and pride; 
In the bright future, starry skies of hope; 
And midway, in the present hour, a strife 
Rising to shake the firmament. Behold. 

[Music — The Marche Slav. Enter Servia, pre- 
sented by a man in the national dress, followed by 
a banner bearer and a group of Servian men. 
Servia leaves his group and runs to the height be- 
tween Truth and Justice. He holds above his 
head a great curved sword. ] 

SERVIA 

Truth, I, Servia, hold in my hands 
The sword of Karageorge. 

Hear me and judge me. Truth and Liberty, 

Hear me and answer. Justice. 

There has been struck down in mine enemy's house 

A prince. And lo, mine enemy. 

Proud Austria, charges me with his blood. 

1 have answered as thou dost remember. Truth. 

Mine enemy has laid on me a charge of eleven demands. 

Like a chain of eleven links, and to ten 

I have submitted, bending my pride. 

But the eleventh link I can not bear 

Save with the death of my sovereignty among the peoples; 

Ten demands have I yielded, O Justice, 

And I have said that mine enemy may sit for vengeance in 

my courts of judgment; 
Ten links have I borne of his chain, O Liberty; 
But now — but now I call out in the high court of the Three 

who sit above the nations. 
Shall I bear this last, and my people be hounded by this alien 

hate ? 

[8] 



JUSTICE 

Too far hast thou yielded now, O Servia. 

LIB E RT Y 

Draw forth the sword, lest thy foe bear thee down. 

TRUTH 

[Rising. ] 

So Freedom bids, and Justice. Yet I see 
Beyond this wrath a greater wrath to fall. 
Sheathe or unsheathe, the foe will not show mercy. 
Unsheathe the sword — you set the world aflame! 

SERVIA 

I may not choose. 

[He draws the sword. There is a clash of 
cymbals and a roar of drums. Servia returns to 
his group below. A solemn music sounds and 
Belgium^ with her stricken -people, is seen 
approaching. She is a tragic figure, who comes 
slowly, with outstretched arms; from her shoulders 
flutters a great cloak of black and gold — now 
tattered to shreds. She mounts between Truth 
and Liberty. ] 

TRUTH 

Hail, mother of heroes! 

BELGIUM 

Hail, Justice, Liberty and Truth! 

I, Belgium, broken and exiled, cry to you, 

Still unestranged, unshamed. 

I have forbidden the destroyer's way 

And he hath trampled me, 

I have defended for one fiery hour 

The fortress gateway of my sister France, 

And for one hour held the black eagles back. 

LIBERTY 

And for that hour, the fiery hour of Liege 
The unborn future freedoms of the world 
Shall kiss thy sacred sword. 

[9] 



BELGIUM 

And now my cities are fallen, my gardens gray 

With ashes of my peoples' homes. My children 

Torn from my hearth, my young men gone to death, 

Mine ancient seats of learning to the torch. 

My daughters given to the lust 

Of the black eagles. All that I had wrought 

In the long industry of patient years 

Ruined and ravished, and the few who still, 

Amid my fallen roof trees, cling to life, 

They now have driven into slavery 

To bitter toil to feed mine enemies. 

This is my doom, and I bow down to it. 

Calling to those who held me safe, to those 

High signatories of my lasting peace 

Who still are true. Though I be dispossessed, 

And crushed beneath the shadow of black wings. 

Still in thy courts august I face thee. Truth, . 

And losing all, proclaim mine upright soul 

Still faithful unto God, and peace, and thee. 

And were the choice again to make, still staunch. 

JUSTICE 

In my name and the name of Liberty, 
Who will defend this land .? 

[Music. Enter from the back, England and 
. France, with their attendant banners. England 
stands between Truth and Justice, France be- 
tween Truth and Liberty. \ 

ENGLAND 

\Ile is figured as a grave, cloaked man of the 
age of Elizabeth; his followers bear upright 
lances. ] 

My voice for England's might. 

I will defend, as I did hold her safe, 

Mine honor pledged, my seal upon the bond, 

Call me to battle, though the foe cry out 

That treaties be but paper, and so burn. 

I am unready, for my sword hath slept 

[lo] 



Long in the scabbard, and mine armies long 

Have melted in the sun of peace. I dwell 

Beyond the shielding of the silver sea. 

I know the blood cost of this hour. I come 

Deliberate and resolute. And first, 

With all my fleets I do forbid the seas 

To the black eagles; and my hoards of gold 

I give to war, that in the peace to come 

Assurance may be doubled. And if I 

Be slow to strike, know well that having struck, 

I will not sheathe until be made a peace 

Not to be shivered at a trumpet's blast, 

Not to be ground beneath an iron heel, 

Nor frighted by the gleam beneath the moon 

Of helmets flashing pride across the night. 

Thus speak I, England, taking up the gage. 

And Liberty and Justice know me well 

For one not quick to fire, but slow to yield 

When once I give my heart to righteous war. 

JUSTICE 

Hail, England, and all honor to thy sword. 

TRUTH 

Hail and beware. Not all is known to you, 
Who have the silver zone of foam for shield. 
Your fleets forbid, but now the creeping death 
Through your blue robe of safety burrows in, 
And high aloft the wings are beating down 
The winds of your deliverance. 

ENGLAND 

I may not choose. Come weal, come woe. 
My sword is for the right unscabbarded. 

[He draws his sword.] 

[France has stood rapt in vision. She is a 
slender girl, in the arms of Jeanne the maid, a 
surcoat of white with lilies over the hauberk. 
Now for a moment the Marseillaise is heard, 
faintly, and she stirs, but does not speak.] 

[II] 



LIBERTY 

Still art thou silent, France. 

FRANCE 

Not for 
The ravished fields nor the lost provinces, 
The orchards stripped forever of their bloom 
The villages where peace and thrift abode, — 
But for the deep wound in the spirits' heart, 
For Rheims, and all its carven glory twined 
With sainted memories, I give my tears. 
For what am I, France, in the world's high court 
That is not there struck down; my faith. 
And all that vision of eternal law. 
Of beauty, and the grace that I have lived, 
These have my foes marked for their deadliest stroke. 
What harm to them the gray cathedral's towers 
Where once Jeanne d'Arc did crown a king? Why, this. 
That there my spirit knelt, and they who smote 
Those towers with ruin left my shrine unhoused. 
And hoped my prayer would never reach its God. 
But now I pray amid the open fields. 
Along the blasted trenches that have reft 
So deep a scar across my brow; and there 
I re-create the spirit from the stone. 
And pray and fight in silence till the end. 

LIBERTY 

Thine is the deepest wound — the highest heart. 
God for thy glory give thee guerdon, France. 

[ The Marseillaise is now heard again. Listening, 
France moves up to the side of Liberty's throne, 
her face alight. She draws her sword, kisses it, 
and kneels before Liberty. As the music ceases, 
the other figures salute her with upraised arms, 
crying out,] 

ALL 

God save thee, France! 

[12] 



[ The music changes to the Russian National 
Anthem, and Russia appears; he is a figure of 
gorgeous pride, in the hierarchical robes of the 
Romanoff dynasty. He stands with his back to 
Liberty. ] 

RUSSIA 

Here I salute you, nations in arms, and Truth and Justice. 

TRUTH 

Greet you not Liberty? 

RUSSIA 

I know not Liberty. I come to the blood call 

Of the Slav lands, and first of Servia, my kinsman. 

From the far north where the swift summer flowers, 

From the Siberian east, and south, from the Ukraine, 

I call my children into battle. 

Not theirs to weigh the issues of my quarrel 

Nor dream of freedom ere I make them free. 

But theirs to march, host upon thundering host 

Far gathered, to the longest leaguered line. 

And though they fall, my standard still I trace 

Through the gold billows of the battle smoke, 

Borne for the faith of holy Russia, and our house, 

And the Imperial Little Father's pride, 

Even to blessed death. 

[A murmur rises among the Russian group, and 
hands are uplifted.^ 

Be silent. 

I have cast the die. And Russia bends not 

Either to foe or fate. 

TRUTH 

Yet Russia bears within his smouldering heart 
A fire that will not die for all his pride. 

[Russia returns to his group.] 

ENGLAND 

I to my standards call my far frontiers. 
To Canada amid untrodden snows, 

[13] 



To India's jeweled princes, to the isles 
Of the South Seas and the Australian plains, 
For they are wandering children of my hearth 
And though they range afar they dream of me. 
Free are they, yet I trust their freedom most 
To bring them home against mine enemies. 

[Enter Canada, India, Australia and their 
groups.] 

CANADA 

England, thy sons come home. An unbought sword 
Here doth the North return to thee. 

INDIA 

England, thine empire of the Orient brings 
Its loyalty and duty to thy throne. 

AUSTRALIA 

England, the men of the Antipodes, 

Sons of thy youngest tribe, and gay with youth. 

Come asking only "Which way lurks the foe.?" 

LIBERTY 

Well have my counsels profited thee, England. 

TRUTH 

Well for thy fate and for thy future fame 
These strong arms to thy comfort, for the fight 
Shall need them all. 

[Enter Japan. ] 

JAPAN 

England, my friend, and Russia once my foe 

I for the East do proffer brotherhood. 

To guard the long Pacific wave be mine; ♦ 

To quench the greed that looks with leering eyes 

On the rich plains beneath the dragon flag 

I honorably bring the sword of new Japan. 

[14] 



TRUTH 

Now East and West are leagued, yet still mine ears 
Are smitten with undying agonies. 
Armenia comes. 

[Enter Armenia. She comes alone and no music 
sounds for her. ] 

ARMENIA 

Faintly your voices reach me, nations, where 

On the cold hills beyond far Erzeroum 

The crescent blade with unresisting blood 

Anew is crimsoned. For the pledges of the Turk, 

Made when he feared you, now are swept away, 

Since he hath sold alliance unto one 

More strong, more false, more terrible than he. 

Armenia calls you, but my bitter woe 

Can never find a voice so loud, so deep 

As fits its suffering. For we who have no crown 

Standard nor nation's pride, what shall we hope 

Save heavier burdens till we all go down. 

But if the Christian name and faith still live 

And move you any wise, you may not turn 

Away from our despair, but yield us still 

Under the Moslem power and hate. 

Your pity — pity — pity for our pain — 

Your vengeance, ere the peace be made, 

For the unholiest alliance of your foes 

And the slow rending of a people's life. 

RUSSIA 

For you, Armenia, my legions shall strike southward 
Through the snows of Caucasus. 

ENGLAND 

For you, Armenia, and your deathless wrongs, 
I will strike northward from the Persian sea. 

ARMENIA 

Be swift, O nations, lest ye find the land 
Barren of life, forever desolate. 

[Armenia kneels before the throne of Justice. ] 

1151 



JUSTICE 

I have recorded and will not forget 
Thy history, Armenia. 

[The Garibaldi Hymn is heard, and Italy, clad 
as a man of the Bersiglieri, enters.] 

THE NATIONS 

Hail Italy! 

TRUTH 

These greet thee, Italy, as one lost, and now 
From the foe's camps recovered. 

ITALY 

I was unto a triple bondage vowed, 

Unnaturally, forced by the hand of steel 

That did compel submission. I was pledged 

To Germany and Austria for defence. 

I never vowed to join offensive war 

Nor help marauders raid a peaceful world. 

Therefore my vows I now cast off, and from 

My shield I do erase their black device. 

Remembering well the Austrian yoke, and well 

The red injustice of the Austrian law. 

And now 

To carry back to my imprisoned kin 

The shield of their United Italy, 

I send my sons to mark the Alpine snows 

With scarlet, and to flutter the high air 

With wings that beat and soar for Liberty. 

LIBERTY 

And I do take thee back, true Italy 
Into my favor and my heritage. 

[The Chopin Funeral March is heard, and a 
figure cloaked and veiled in black moves slowly 
into the centre of the court. She is Poland. ] 

TRUTH 

Look now on one who comes remembering 

[i6] 



Through all her years of bondage and division, 
Liberty, thy star. 

POLAND 

I too 
Have felt a triple bondage, I have grown 
Gray in my heart's division. You with flags 
Still kissing in the wind, go past me, gay 
With battle glories. You forget me now. 
Who once was blithe as you amongst the nations. 
But for me. 

In the long silence since my voice was heard, 
I forget never; but my sons, my sons 
Remembering not, but burning still with wrath, 
Clash swords and slay each other, and I weep. 
For pillaged lands neath sweeping sudden flags. 

[Now the black veil slips from the impearled 
head dress, and from the parted robe a gleam of 
rose and blue appears. ] 

But lo, when the storm breaks and the lightning flames, 

New fires, new hopes are lighted in my heart. 

And I, who never lost from my dear dreams 

Thy faith undying. Liberty, I rise. 

And casting off the years, call unto thee, 

And unto Justice, and these warring lands, 

What shall be Poland's fate, what shall the dawn 

Beyond the night bring home to me? 

\She drops from her the black garments, and 
stands young and glowing.] 

RUSSIA 

I pledge thee, Poland, justice when my hour 
Shall serve to send it. 

LIBERTY 

Now is the world arrayed 

For me against the might of despotism. 

TRUTH 

Not all as yet, nor all the struggle needs, 
Nor undivided stand they. 

[17] 



^ LIBERTY 

Two more come yonder. 

[Enter Portugal and Roumania. ] 

PORTUGAL 

I for the Portuguese Republic lend my power 
To these who for Democracy lift spears. 

ROUMANIA 

And I, Roumania, give my golden fields, 
And the rich flowing of mine oil-streaked hills 
To these Allies. And by the Slavic ranks 
I set my banners. 

LIBERTY 

Now Truth, behold, and Justice raise with me 
Your voice in joy. So much of the free world 
Leagues here that surely there can be no end 
But in the victory of the free born. 

TRUTH 

blind and trusting Liberty, O stern 

And slothful Justice, hearken now to Truth. 

1 marshall here the dark and threatening days. 
The days of war. The foe is strong. His heart 
Remembers not the mercies of his peace. 

Look with mine eyes, and see the trenches deepen 
Year long and wide as the abyss of doom. 
See the tall ships that shudder at the stroke 
Of the death blast. Now greatest of all these, 
The Lusitania, warm with trusting folk, 
Throbbing with hateless hearts. 
The fiery creeping thing betrays 
To the chill ooze and darkness of the sea. 

[As Truth speaks; the Nations bend low as to a 
storm.] 

Justice, who strikes — who strikes for this foul murder? 
None. The foe is strong. And the torn skies 
And the blue under-wave resist him not. 

[i8] 



And now new words of death, new warnings 
Insolently flung in the world's face 
He lashes forth. League well, O nations, 
But remember well: The foe is strong 
And pitiless, and unimaginably armed. 
Not by loud trumpets shall this fight be won, 
Nor by just causes only. Think on this 
And meditate the last and desperate thrust 
That shall win all for Liberty and Justice. 
Or lose the world and all its sovereignties. 

ENGLAND 

My sinking ships on all the seas go down 
Heeding thee. Truth. 

RUSSIA 

My wavering line of ruin cries you true. 

BELGIUM 

And all my tears and all my children's tears 

s E R V I A 

And my lost kingdom and my shattered hope 

FRANCE 

And the white faces of my bloodless dead. 

TRUTH 

And I, who see the truth of all these things 
Can but lament for life locked fast to death. 
And the years running red with waste. 

LIBERTY 

I will not yield to thy black vision. Truth, 
Not yet shall life go down. I call 
To my strong daughter in the dreaming West. 
Call to America. 

JUSTICE 

And I my voice 
Lift, and when Justice calls. Democracy 
Will not refrain her hand. 

[19] 



America, come forth and strike and save 
For the world crumbles in its bitter need. 

TRUTH 

Listen, and wait. 

[In the Russian group voices are heard crying 

^^Dozvn Down with the Imperial Power 

Down^ ! The imperial figure of Russia staggers 
foward out of the rising wave of violence. ] 

RUSSIA 

What tumult shakes my heart? I reel, 
I fall. 

[As Russia falls, a new figure, a girl, wild and 
breathless, is disclosed over him by the sudden 
drawing back of the group. She is the New 
Russia. ] 

THE NEW RUSSIA 

I grope with eager hands to the new fire, 

I blink at unaccustomed light, I start 

At the strange sound of freedom. What is this.? 

This war of terrors, that my peasant blood 

Should shower these grisly trenches dug 

From Riga to the Bessarabian coast. 

What fearful vows have I inherited — 

What leagues and perils — I who now am free.? 

LIBERTY 

Now art thou mine, and I will guide thy steps. 

THE NEW RUSSIA 

Not there — not there! 

Dwells not peace with Liberty ? 

LIBERTY 

I have loved peace, but deeper have loved life. 

Look forward. Gird your new-found freedom's sword 

To meet again your ancient adversary. 

THE NEW RUSSIA 

Is this the same — this threatening sleepless foe.? 

l20] 



L I B E RT Y 

The same, but stronger, and against my star 
More venomous. 

NEW RUSSIA 

What hope — what light — what haven lifts to me? 

TRUTH 

Behold, a child — a wondering, 'wildered, child 
Standing alone to guard the longest line. 

POLAND 

And I between her and the flaming hate, 
Crushed and forgotten. 

FRANCE 

Fight on, fight on — 'til the last heart be cleft. 

R O U M A N I A 

How shall the future years redeem this hour 
Of our despair? 

ARMENIA 

The future years are come, and they are black 
With night and ruin. 

BELGIUM 

What hope — what light? for we are swept with death. 

[Trumpets are heard, blowing martially.] 

THE NEW RUSSIA 

What sound is that? 

LIBERTY 

My child — my daughter in the dreaming West, 
Awakes ! 

[Enter America, followed hy young men, soldiers. 
As America takes her place, all cry out — 

ALL 

Hail, America! 

[21] 



3 AMERICA 

My brothers, I, America, answer your call with trumpets. 
My sisters, I, America, pulse to your pain with tears. 
The foe is strong. But strong hearts are my sons, 
Who give their arms to-day to this good fight. 
To battle-chance and star of victory. 

nations leagued with Liberty, I come. 

1 draw for justice an unvenomed sword. 
And I salute you, comrades, pledging you 
I will not sheathe until the cause be won 
And we attain through strife the lasting peace 
Of Freedom under the great hand of God. 

[The Star Spangled Banner is sung; then the 
pageant vanishes into darkness. ] 



[22] 



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